Subject:
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Re: British Trains Re: Hogwarts Express train
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Sun, 26 Feb 2006 12:07:49 GMT
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Viewed:
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8327 times
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In lugnet.trains, Tim David wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Mathew Clayson wrote:
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In lugnet.trains, Tim David wrote:
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Until the mid-to-late 50s the headlamps formed a code to denote the type of
train. There were four positions, centre, left and right along the
footplate and top of the smokebox door. See
this site for more info (scroll
down a bit for the codes. The different railway companies had their own
variations on the codes. Many of the first generation of diesel locos had
discs on the fronts, replicating the headlamp positions. These discs folded
in half, covering their lamp and their white face. See
here for some examples
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Every train has to carry a red tail light. On unit trains and locomotives
this is built in, on freight and hauled passenger stock it is a separate
lamp fitted onto a lamp iron (a bracket) From the mid Nineties these have
changed to flashing units, presumably the advent of LEDs has allowed this
to provide greater battery life (not called FREDs here AFAIK).
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US cars have air automatic brakes. Do GB cars?
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All passenger stock has had continuous brakes for at least 100 years
(IIRC). However this was mainly vacuum rather than air brakes, The last
thirty years has seen a move over to air and now all stock is air braked (I
think) Until the Sixties almost all freight stock was unfitted (i.e.
handbrakes only), the exceptions were those used in passenger and express
freight trains (fish trains being an example) Those vehicles which had
continuous brakes were vacuum braked. Again from the Seventies there was a
move to get rid of unfitted trains (they had lower speed limits and
required the use of a brake van (similar idea to a caboose) Most of the
unfitted vehicles have now been scrapped due to changes in traffic
patterns, some were vacuum or air braked. Again AFAIK all freight stock is
now air braked.
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snipped
Tim,
that was extremely useful, thank you. I’m assuming that Thomas with two
coaches would be a B class, same for Toby with his coach and baggag car. Is
the red end of train light mounted high or low?
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I would have thought so, although as I said it varied slightly from railway
to railway so I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The red light on the end is
normally mounted just above one of the buffers, i.e. low down to one side.
Tim
PS I was very wordy in my last post and still missed out the whole point of
the guard! The guards van contains a control point for the train brakes, the
same for a brake van in a fitted freight train, in an unfitted freight train
the brake van provided additional (hand) braking power to the loco.
Tim
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In the illustrations from the original Awdry books, Thomas has his front lamp on
top of the smokebox when pulling a passenger train such as Annie and Clarabel.
This indicates a stopping passenger train, class 2.
Gordon, on the other hand, has two lamps low down, one over each buffer, when he
pulls the express, class 1.
When Thomas pulls a goods train, the lamp positions vary according to the rules.
In the first Awdry books most of his goods trains are unfitted, but that’s not
surprising for the late 1940s. James’ accident, when the trucks pushed him down
the hill, was caused by the failure to stop at the top to pin down the brakes,
as well as wooden brake blocks catching fire.
It’s worth sticking to the prevailing rules for the era (or decade) you’re
modelling, especially as preserved railways seek to present old engines in
correct livery for their original operation. This is one reason why many
British model railways are set in the 60s, since that provides for the widest
range of rolling stock, from steam to early diesels.
Toby’s coach Henrietta would be offended to be called a Baggage Car :-) Toby
usually has the single lamp high up for a stopping passenger train.
The guard has a handbrake plus the ability to break the vacuum in a
vacuum-braked train.
Also, many wagons had through brake pipes even if they were not fitted with
vacuum or air brakes, so that if the train had sufficient brake force overall,
it could have continuous brakes with these wagons in the train and hence go
faster by being of a different class.
Mark
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: British Trains Re: Hogwarts Express train
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| (...) I would have thought so, although as I said it varied slightly from railway to railway so I wouldn't worry about it too much. The red light on the end is normally mounted just above one of the buffers, i.e. low down to one side. Tim PS I was (...) (18 years ago, 24-Feb-06, to lugnet.trains, FTX)
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